


Lessons In Spider-Manning

by ProfessorRex



Category: Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Ultimateverse), Spider-Man (Video Game 2018), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-11 22:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15981722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorRex/pseuds/ProfessorRex
Summary: If Peter was being completely honest it had always been his hope that Spider-Man would have died with him. He didn’t resent the webs or the red and blue, but he knew what the cost of being Spider-Man was, and he wasn’t even counting how expensive web fluid was.So when Miles came along backflipping onto ceilings and showing up on the evening news in a homemade costume that looked like it was cobbled together from black sweatpants and a red spandex morphsuit (What the hell kind of combination was that anyway?) Peter knew he had to do something.If Miles kept going the way he was then at best he’d wind up dead before the six o’clock news and at worst he’d end up dealing with the horrendous feeling of watching his first love plummet off the Brooklyn bridge and firing a web line at her ankle and watching her neck snap. Not that Peter was projecting or anything.





	1. Lesson 1: With Great Power

**Author's Note:**

> Massive spoilers for Spider-Man PS4. So if you haven't beaten that game don't read this if you mind spoilers.

If Peter was being completely honest it had always been his hope that Spider-Man would have died with him. He didn’t resent the webs or the red and blue, but he knew what the cost of being Spider-Man was, and he wasn’t even counting how expensive web fluid was. So when Miles came along backflipping onto ceilings and showing up on the evening news in a homemade costume that looked like it was cobbled together from black sweatpants and a red spandex morphsuit (What the hell kind of combination was that anyway?) Peter knew he had to do something. If Miles kept going the way he was then at best he’d wind up dead before the six o’clock news and at worst he’d end up dealing with the horrendous feeling of watching his first love plummet off the Brooklyn bridge and firing a web line at her ankle and watching her neck snap. Not that Peter was projecting or anything.

  
Lesson One: With Great Power

Peter and Miles were standing in a boxing gym in Hell’s Kitchen. The sign outside read 'Fogwell’s Gym est 1952’ and it’s interior looked like it hadn’t changed since then. The equipment was oldschool.  Ancient roughspun leatherbound gloves, heavy bags, and a squared circle that was stained with decades of sweat and blood that had faded to a dingy brown. Miles was more than a little disgusted to be standing in the middle of it, but Peter was standing across from him, and he did his best to not let it show on his face. Peter wasn’t wearing his mask, but his face was stoic and hard to read, and his posture made Miles nervous. His arms were folded as he stared Miles down almost looking through him. “So, you know how I told you with Great Power there must also come a greater responsibility? What do you think that means?”

  
Miles didn’t miss a beat. “It means we’re supposed to help people right?” He lounged back against the ropes with his arms relaxed and propped up, his posture the exact opposite of Peter’s. “We got all this power, proportionate strength, speed and agility and etcetera. We have to put it to use for the betterment of others right?” Peter’s facade of seriousness cracked and he chuckled.

  
“Yeah. You got the gist of it, but that responsibility also includes making sure you do as little harm as possible. Miles, we’re strong. Like stronger than the average person could ever hope to be which means that when you’re out there fighting you’re gonna have to pull your punches.” Peter wondered if he was being too stern. The closest thing he ever had to a mentor in the realm of superheroics was Daredevil, and he was kind of a dark and broody dick. Then he remembered the first time he had hit someone too hard. He decided to keep channeling Daredevil. “I want you to try and hit me as hard as you can.”

“As hard as I can?” Miles raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak. “Are you for real? Didn't you just give me the whole lecture about how strong we are and why I should be holding back?"

"I did, but you also need to know why. And I think it's better you see the results of your power." Peter relaxed his posture and let his arms hang loosely at his side. He wasn't expecting much of a challenge, but being tense wouldn't be doing him any favors. "I'm gonna be fighting back of course. So try your best."

Miles put up his fist and squared his hips and put his left foot forward. It was a good old fashioned orthodox boxing stance. Something Peter assumed Miles had picked up from his father. That was good. Miles at least had some kind of foundation. He approached Peter, and by the standards of someone who wasn't enhanced with Spider-Powers his footwork was crisp and precise, but from Peter's perspective it was just sloppy.

So when Miles closed the distance and lanced out with a sharp right jab Peter had no problems dodging. Effortlessly he turned his body away from the blow. Mostly running on autopilot and Spider-Sense as he dodged away. "Right jab. Very classic boxing Miles, appropriate for our setting. But if you're gonna be a Spider themed vigilante then maybe we ought to find you something a little less grounded? Or tweak the boxing." Miles wasn't deterred just yet. And suddenly shifted his stance dropping his left foot back and clutching his left fist at his hip and his right leg snapped out viciously into a front kick.

It was only marginally more difficult for Peter to dodge. He stepped out of the way of the kick. Practically floating back across the mat and leaning against a turnbuckle casually. "Karate? Where did you pick that up? I bet it's all the violent video games you kids play. In my day the most violent imagery we were exposed to was the ghost catching up to Pac-Man though now that I think about it. Dig-Dug was a really messed up game. Literally harpooning and exploding monsters with a tire pump. Maybe that's why there's so many Shockers and Rhinos running around."

Miles despite the lack of exertion was panting heavily. Peter watched as his fist clenched and his knuckles tensed with barely contained power. His eyes were dilated and hard. He knew that look well. All the tell tale signs of quips getting under people's skin. If he had to take a wild guess. Miles probably didn't feel like he was being taken serious. Peter had essentially called him out to Hell's Kitchen on a Saturday night and proceeded to lecture and then make fun of him. He watched as Miles channeled that considerable frustration into a sloppy wild swinging haymaker. Peter jumped straight up and over Miles, flipping gracefully in the air before landing on the mat.

Miles had overextended and couldn't stop the momentum of his fist and it collided with the turnbuckle. There was the sound of cracking wood and a tingle of Spider-Sense right before the turnbuckle exploded into a crackle of wood. It made the ring ropes snap and whip around them before collapsing and the metal post that had been supporting the turnbuckle had bent over onto groaning backwards.

Miles was still standing there his  
knuckles just a bit sore. And his fist still extended. Slowly his hand dropped to his side and he turned around to face Peter. He couldn't find words but he didn't need to. Peter could read his face. He could see the worry and the shock written across it. He took a few tentative steps towards Miles. "When I was maybe a year or two older than you, and still very new to the webs. I lost my cool in a fight once. I hit a guy so hard I caved in his chest. His rib cage got pushed back and speared one of his lungs. He stopped breathing while I was mid-quip. And then I had to rush him to a hospital. It was probably one of the scariest moments in my life. Sitting in that waiting room in full costume, waiting for the doctor to come out and tell me if I was a murderer or not." He reached out and placed a hand on Miles' shoulder. "Great Responsibility? It's not just about helping others. It also means shouldering the burden of wielding power responsibility. For us? That means holding back. Pulling our punches no matter who it is. Outside looking in? It seems like the job is just webbing up muggers and cracking wise, but sometimes it battling with yourself at two in the morning to find the resolve to not separate the head of a rapist from their shoulders. No matter how good it might feel or how easy it might be. That is the burden of our great power. That is the great responsibility."

Miles studied Peter's face. It wasn't news to him that being super hero was probably hard. Peter had made as much clear before he even agreed to train him, but the pain Peter was sharing with him was palpable like he was begging Miles to listen to him. "This is gonna hurt isn't it?" Miles asked. "Not the training and not the bullets. But like. That right there. Living up to that ideal of power and responsibility. That's gonna be the most painful part isn't it?"

Peter thought of May and the flowers he left on her grave a few weeks ago, and the choice he had to make that caused her death. "Yeah." He didn't let himself cry. "That's. gonna be the hardest part of the job. Its not too late to walk away you know." Peter kinda hoped he would. Miles deserved some semblance of an average life.

"My dad never walked away from responsibility. So how can I?" He left it at that. And Peter smiled a smile full of regret and worry at him.

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that. Help me get this mess cleaned up before Daredevil gets here and I'll teach you how to quip."


	2. Lesson 2: A Fixture Of The Friendly Neighborhood.

The last thing Miles had expected to do the first time he went out in full costume with Peter was take the subway. He supposed it made a certain kind of sense, he didn’t have his own webshooters yet, and neither of them could afford an Uber from Brooklyn to Manhattan, and Miles certainly didn’t want his first introduction as a superhero to be clinging to Spider-Man arms around his neck as they swung between skyscrapers, that would have invited all sorts of attention and fanfiction that he really just wasn’t interested in having on him, but still he had to ask. “Pe-. Spider-Man?” He corrected himself. They were in costume and in public. He couldn’t afford to slip up like that.

 

Peter looked up from his phone disappointed. Why did he even bother checking the Nicks highlights anymore? He looked over at Miles ready to complain as he almost called him by name while they were in costume, but he caught himself, and Peter was pretty happy about that.  “What’s up Rookie?” He asked. The train rumbled to a stop as he watched Miles formulate whatever was on his mind into a sentence.

 

“I was just thinking.” The doors to the subway car opened and a tide of New Yorkers rolled in and swifty filled up the car. Miles noticed a few people pulling out their phones and snapping pictures at them discreetly and not so discreetly. Most people though, true to the spirit of a New Yorker just didn’t give a damn about the two guys sitting on a subway train in full body spandex. “Well, why exactly are we riding the subway?” It came out uncertain, and he paused trying to figure out the rest of what he wanted to say, he wondered if Peter could tell how nervous he was. “It’s just when you said we’d be going out in full uniform, I imagined something more spectacular?” He extended his hand and pressed his middle and ring fingers down into his palm with the remaining fingers extended pantomiming firing a web.

 

“Well, the most obvious reason? Web fluid is crazy expensive, but take a look around Rookie, and think about it.” It wasn’t the biggest hint in the world, but the educator in Peter wanted to know what he was working with, and where Miles’ head was at. Peter had a lot to teach him, but there was even more Miles was going to need to figure out on his own. No time like the present. Peter looked up as their train pulled to their stop and he got to his feet. “Come on Rookie, race you to topside.

 

-OOO-

 

So far they had stopped three muggings, and one B&E, but they had picked six cats out of trees, gotten four balloons that were floating way, gave directions to fourteen groups of tourist, returned seven dropped wallets, and stopped to take countless pictures and now they were sitting on the roof of Luigi’s Pizzeria, a pie resting between the two of them in it's box with the lid open. One half was Pepperoni and olives a Parker Family favorite, and the other half was mushrooms and sausage which Peter would quietly consider an abomination. Their masks were pulled up just far enough to expose their mouths, their legs were dangling off the roof of the Pizzeria and each of them had a large plastic cup filled with iced tea and lemonade respectively at their sides. Miles had finished two slices and was working on his third. He had one hand on the crust and the other supporting the pointed end of the slice. Peter had opted for the classic method of folding the slice over onto itself and eating it like such. It was silent as they sat and ate, or at least as silent as it ever got in the city, the sound of traffic and footsteps were all around them.   

 

“I think I’ve figured it out.” Miles had just finished his third slice and his cup was about halfway full as he sipped iced tea out of his straw. “The subway question I asked this morning? I think I got it.” Miles picked up his last slice. “You know I heard the stories and everything, about you calling yourself the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. I mean I knew you did stuff like save kittens from trees and crack jokes with people who wanna take selfies with you, but I didn’t realize how good that felt. It’s a lot different than the actual crime fighting, Like when that guy tried Mugging that kid with the tennis racket and you told me to handle it myself. It was like he was moving in slow motion, he didn’t have any hope of touching me, but I was still scared. Scared that I wasn’t gonna be fast enough, and that someone else might get hurt, and I wouldn’t be able to save them. Like with my dad.”

 

Peter had a pretty good idea of how much that last sentence must have hurt. Peter thought about trying to tell Miles that it wasn’t his fault, but it was a conversation that they’d already had too many times. “Days like today? They’re probably my favourites.” He pointed down at the street below them. “We’re strong enough to juggle cars, can leap small buildings in a single bound,  fast enough to dodge bullets, and frankly it scares the hell out of the people down there.” He pulled back his hand and placed it on Miles’ shoulder. “You’re not wrong. Helping in the little ways feels good. Amazing actually, but it also makes people understand we’re just like them. That despite all our power, we’re still just a guy from Queens and a guy from Brooklyn trying to do right by their city.”  Peter pulled his mask down and got to his feet. “And well, I don’t think that other part of the job stops being scary, The trick is learning to manage that fear, or at the very least, fake it till you make it. And Miles I’ve already seen you push past fear so I know you can do it.”

 

Peter took off the gloves of his costume and rolled up his sleeves.  “I had to get really creative about this, suit barely has enough room in the pockets for my phone, but that’s on me for not being able to pull off a utility belt.” Miles noticed first Peter’s webshooters. He wore them everywhere in and out of costume, but further up above his wrists were large plastic bands barely being able to wrap around his forearms, they each had a long rectangular panel extending out past the bands and into circle shapes. Peter took them off and offered them to Miles. “Here you go. My first set of webshooters. I wasn’t sure if you were ready yet, but I can see that you get it and you’ve given it a lot of thought. So you ready to go do something spectacular?”

**Author's Note:**

> One of the things that always bugged me about Miles coming over to the main continuity as Spider-Man is that it completely changed his origin and the impetus of his character. Then there's the fact that he and Peter outside of a handful of appearances have had almost no interractions with one another. Which is weird, cause it's not like Miles is running around calling himself Tarantula Guy. He's using the Spider-Man name and slinging webs. 
> 
> You would think Peter would be checking in on him from time to time. And don''t even get me started on Civil War II when Miles was a damn fugitive for the murder of Steve Rogers that he hasn't even done yet. Peter who was there and saw the vision just like everyone else didn't lift a finger or say a word. *Sighs* Anyway Spider-Man PS4 Took some huge steps in rectifying that. And I couldn't have been happier. So this is essentially spawned from that continuity but incorporates some broad strokes from Spider-Man's history. It's not exactly a linear story either. Just a series of interconnected one shots.


End file.
